April 14 - COVID-19 Update

Firstly, it is important to let our community know that there are still no known cases of COVID-19 at any of our Bedford sites.

As always, the health of our clients and staff is our highest priority and we have taken several precautions and implemented government recommended protocols to ensure everyone’s safety and well-being and to minimise the risk of infection. These include:

Increasing hygiene practises;

Increasing cleaning and sanitation measures;

Introducing social distancing protocols; and

Establishing work from home opportunities.

As stated in our last update, our dedicated COVID-19 taskforce has created a Response Plan and Operating Model to keep the lights on and ensure Bedford will come out as strong as it can after this health crisis.

This Response Plan includes the temporary closures of our hospitality, metropolitan manufacturing and lotteries departments or sites.

As of Tuesday 14 April 2020, our hospitality and lotteries and fundraising employees and staff have successfully transitioned to other areas of our business. This transition has gone incredibly smoothly, and we are very proud of our Bedford team for their cooperation, understanding and positivity during this time. This transition has provided our employees and staff with an invaluable opportunity to upskill in a different area of our business they had not previously worked in.

Our Gepps Cross site and Panorama manufacturing team will be transitioning to other business units as of Friday 24 April 2020.

We are in the process of investigating our eligibility for the Job Keeper payment from the Federal Government and will continue to keep our community informed on this.

We also continue to work with the sector to find innovative ways to keep operating and keep providing meaningful work, life skills, social engagement and capacity-building opportunities for our 1300 clients- particularly those clients who may not be able to physically attend Bedford as usual.

If you have any enquiries, please feel free to reach out to us on our COVID-19 hotline: 0429 135 448 or 0429 124 648 (Mon to Fri 8:30am – 5.00pm) or email: covidhelp@bedfordgroup.com.au.

Bedford may need to adapt its operating model further during this time of uncertainty but will work closely with all staff, employees and clients to ensure we minimise direct impacts as much as we can.